


Retire

by bzarcher



Series: Naya Stories [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Adopted Children, Canon-Typical Violence, Combat, Doubt, F/F, Family Feels, Growth, Healing, Inspired by Fanart, LuNa - Freeform, Naya - Freeform, Post-Concussion Syndrome, Prosthesis, Retirement, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 07:50:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17863307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher
Summary: After a mission ends in a serious injury, Satya and Sombra have a talk about their future - and the future of their family.After every sacrifice she has made, what comes next?





	Retire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beryllium_Astatine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beryllium_Astatine/gifts).



> This is another fic set in [Branca's](http://brancadoodles.tumblr.com/) Naya AU, inspired by a discussion with her about what their future might be after Overwatch.

As Satya began to wake up, she realized she felt terrible.

Her body ached, her head felt strange, and she struggled to connect one thought to another.

There was a harsh antiseptic tang in the air, and she she could hear the sound of whirring pumps and quiet electronic noises.

 _I must be in a hospital,_ she realized.

She struggled to remember what had happened. There had been a mission, she recalled. A ‘job’, as Sombra liked to call them.

She had met Angela, Fareeha, Reinhardt, and Lena just outside of Paris. Safeguarding a route into the city for a small group meeting with some of the omnic groups there. An early step in the process of negotiating a true peace.

Someone had disliked that idea.

They’d nearly made it to safety when something had hit the ground next to her. Black. Oblong. Stamped and textured metal.

A grenade, likely using a timed fuse.

Satya remembered trying to generate a small hard light shield that she could place over the device to contain the explosion, but just as she’d moved to encapsulate the grenade there had been a sudden wave of heat and a burst of force that drove the air from her lungs.

She did not remember anything after that, but it was not hard to figure out what had happened.

_There wasn’t enough time...the grenade detonated._

Cautiously, she opened her eyes, and was relieved to find she could see.

The lights had been turned down low, and the little she could see through her room’s window was dark. Most likely late evening or early morning, then.

As she took stock, Satya realized the one thing she could not feel was her artificial arm. No pain, but no sensory data, either, and the mental interface into the creation array did not respond.

She turned her head to the left, and…

_Oh._

The hospital gown she was wearing hung loose over the remnant of her shoulder. It was likely her arm had been badly damaged, if not entirely destroyed, and the remainder removed before surgery.

_It is entirely possible that is the reason I am still alive._

Her eyes focused past her side as they adjusted to the dim lighting, and she realized Sombra was sitting slumped over in a chair just beyond the bed rail, her head leaning against her shoulder.

_But if she is here, who is with Luna and Naya?_

She realized in an instant that she was frightened for their adopted daughters, yet she did not wish for them to see her like this.

Satya reached out with her right hand to elevate the head of the bed so she could get a better look around. An IV drip hung next to her on the bed, the needle in one of the veins of her arm. The lingering pain and body aches, she realized, was a quite familiar sensation. A sign that Angela’s caduceus technology had been used on her, and her struggle to think likely from painkillers and the effects of anesthesia.

_I was gravely injured. Perhaps even…_

No. That did not bear thinking about. Regardless of what had happened, or how badly she had been hurt, she _was_ alive and she would recover.

A groan caught her attention. Sombra had never been a heavy sleeper, and the noise of the bed’s motors must have been enough to wake her.

“Hey,” Sombra rasped as she straightened up. “You awake?” Her voice was rougher than normal, and when Satya looked at her face, she could see that her eyes were red, and tear tracks lined her cheeks.

She nodded as much as she could without aggravating her headache. “I am now.”

“Good. Um.” Sombra seemed lost for words, her throat working as she tried to decide what to say. “You’ve been out most of two days.”

“Naya? Luna?”

Despite her obvious distress, Sombra managed a faint smile. “Alejandra and her mother are looking after them. As far as anyone there knows, you were in an accident. The girls will probably be stuffed full of buñuelos when we get home, but they’re safe.”

Satya closed her eyes for a moment as she let out a sigh of relief. “An accident...I suppose that is true enough.”

“Yeah. Well. It beats telling them what really happened.” Sombra sucked in another ragged breath. “This...it was bad. When they found you, you weren’t breathing. You’d lost a lot of blood. Burns. Shrapnel. For a little while, they weren’t really sure you’d make it.”

“All I can remember was the blast when the grenade went off.”

“They said you were right on top of it,” Sombra went on, her expression twisting into one of disbelief. “Which...what the _fuck_ were you thinking?!”

“I thought I could contain it safely,” Satya explained. “That I could protect the others. I did not expect the grenade to have such a short fuse.”

“You couldn’t just duck?! Or run?”

“There was no time.”

Sombra gave her a disbelieving look, then shook her head. “Your arm is _fucked_. Half of it is just gone.”

Satya grimaced as she let her head fall back against the pillow. “Unfortunate, but not surprising. At least it can be replaced.”

“We can replace your _arm_ ,” Sombra said as she stood, her voice rising as her hands swung in looping gestures. “How would we replace YOU?! Did you think about THAT?”

She flinched at the way Sombra’s voice rose. “I did not -”

“OBVIOUSLY! Don’t you think that we matter?!”

“Of course you do!” She raised her hand, hoping to stop Sombra so she could get a word in edgewise. “I tried to do what I thought was best, but I made a mistake. I regret that, and it will not happen again.”

“A ‘mistake.’ You came _this_ close to dying and you call it a _mistake!_ ” Sombra - no - _Olivia’s_ face was red with anger, her tears flowing again. “You don’t _KNOW_ \- if Ziegler hadn’t been there with her magic stick - what would I have told Naya? What would I be telling Luna? How would I tell them their mom wasn’t coming home?”

“I do not know,” Satya admitted, trying to keep her voice level amid her rising feelings of guilt and confusion. “Angela _was_ there. So I am here.” Olivia’s expression made it clear that was not the right thing to say. She held up her hand to stop her, silently asking for a chance to gather her words.

“I have never wished to leave you, Luna, or Naya. But it is a risk in the lives we lead. You knew this - it was why we agreed that we would not go into the field together any more.”

“ _You_ decided that. _I_ told you it made sense!”

Satya felt complete bewildered. “Why are you so angry?”

_“BECAUSE I NEED YOU!”_

She stared in surprise, stunned by Olivia’s vehemence as she watched her pace in a tight loop around the foot of the bed.

“I kept...I was thinking about what I might have to do the whole way here! I couldn’t think about anything else! We didn’t know if you were going to pull through. Once you were out of surgery we didn’t know if you were going to wake up, we didn’t know if you would still be _you_ \- and all I could think was ‘I don’t know what to tell them’ and ‘I can’t do this!’”

Olivia was shaking from the intensity of her feelings, her hands trembling as she gestured out towards the window. “I can try to be a good mom, but I can’t give them what you do! I can’t _be_ you! Naya needs your stories, Luna loves to dance with you, I can’t cook half their favorite stuff, or deal with the teachers like you do! I don’t know _what_ I would be doing without you - how I’d watch them grow up without you! I’m _still_ worried I’m going to screw up and I don’t even _know_ how I managed to take care of Luna on my own without going completely crazy and I was scared! I’m _still_ scared and...I just…if you were _gone_...”

Olivia sagged, her shoulders falling as her burst of anger faded. She seemed to shrink as the burst of energy left her, and fresh tears pooled in her eyes.

“I don’t...I don’t know what I’d do, Satya. I _don’t_.”

“You would be a good mother,” Satya answered her firmly, sitting herself up more before she reached out, silently encouraging Olivia to take her hand. “And you would find a way. Whenever you face a problem, you work to understand it. You search for solutions - and if you cannot find one, you _make_ one. This would be no different...but I am glad that it is not something you have to face.”

Olivia took her hand, squeezing tightly, then gestured with her free hand at the bed. “Scoot over.”

As soon as there was enough room, she curled against her on the bed, one hand against her shoulder, the other draped over her protectively.

“I’m still angry,” Olivia murmured, but there was little heat in her voice.

Satya tilted her head so she could make eye contact. “I understand that. And I believe I understand why, now.”

Olivia slipped back into her Sombra attitude with a roll of her eyes, then snuggled closer. “Just shut up and hold me, ok?”

It was difficult to give a one armed hug while sitting up in a hospital bed, but she was nothing if not determined. Sombra finally began to relax into the embrace, and Satya turned her head so she could press a kiss to the top of her forehead.

“I love you.”

“...love you too. Just...don’t scare me like that ever again.”

“I will do my best not to,” Satya promised, and let herself relax into her lover’s presence.

Without her visor or phone, Satya had no way to easily tell the time, and she could not see the clock on the wall without making Sombra move. She was not sure how long they lay curled together until she fell asleep again, but the next time she woke there was daylight coming in through the window, and Sombra had moved back to the chair, tapping at an interface window in front of her.

“Hey.”

“Good morning.”

“Feeling better?”   
  
“Of course I do,” she answered with a smile. “You are with me.”

Sombra blushed as she spun the window she had been working on around to face the bed - a schematic for a new prosthetic arm. “I know you have some spare parts, but I thought it might be better to just start with a fresh chassis and set it up from there instead of trying to repair the old one.”

“That is probably for the best,” Satya admitted. “Though it may take time to acquire a new creation matrix and hard light projectors.”

Sombra raised a challenging eyebrow. “C’mon. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

She had to smile at that. “I will look forward their arrival, then. I am not terribly fond of only having one hand.” A thought occurred to her, and she looked around the room. “Though...where _are_ we?”

“Paris Saint-Joseph. I guess Ziegler knows someone on the board.”

Satya frowned thoughtfully. “You said you arrived while I was still in surgery. How did you get here so quickly?”

Sombra smiled back at her. “Would you believe Speedy came and got me in one of those suborbitals they’re not supposed to have?”

“Given what happened when you met her with Naya...yes, I would. Though it helps you haven’t been actively hampering them for some time.”

Sombra gave a nonchalant shrug. “It’s been easier to get a look at the big picture with them than without them, lately.”

It was as close as an admission that she was ‘on the same side’ as Sombra could ever make, really.

“But...I was thinking about some of what I said last night,” Sombra continued.

Satya sat up a bit straighter. “Oh?”

Sombra took a deep breath, a nervous energy in her eyes. “What if we stopped?”

“Stopped?” Satya frowned, trying to understand. “Stopped what?”

“You wanted to take down Vishkar,” Sombra leaned forward, her eyes serious. “We’ve done a lot to make that happen, but there’s always going to be more. Vishkar cleans up their act, there’s still Talon. We help break Talon down, Null Sector is still creeping around. Null sector goes, there’s the Omniums. They start working on peace in Russia, the Eye is still out there...and there’s always going to be _something_. But that doesn’t mean we have to keep getting in the middle of it. Overwatch is basically official again. People have been stepping up because of what they’ve done. There’s more people working to fight back. It doesn’t have to be _us_.”

“But…” Satya trailed off as she reconsidered the instinctive objection. Sombra was right that more had been flocking to Overwatch’s banner. Not all were people she considered ideal, but their enthusiasm was undeniable.

“We could stay in Mexico,” Sombra continued. “Or go to India. Set up in London, Tokyo, Numbani, wherever. We’ve got plenty of money - and it’s not like we can’t get more! Legally, even!”

Satya raised a skeptical eyebrow.

 _“Mostly_ legally,” Sombra said with a roll of her eyes. “And it’s not like the scumbags will miss it.”

“Even so…” Satya looked up at the tiled ceiling, a bit overwhelmed by the idea. “I have always wished to make the world a better place.”

“Ask Luna,” Sombra replied quietly. “Ask Naya. Their worlds are so much better because you’re in them...and so is mine.”

Satya had never considered it that way before.

Angela stopped in later that morning while Sombra had stepped out to call and check in on the girls.

“How much do you remember?”

Satya gave as much of a shrug as she could with only one arm. “I was trying to contain the grenade, there was a flash, and the next thing I recall was waking up here.”

Angela hummed while she collected vitals and performed a basic examination. “That’s not unusual - and if I am honest, it was probably for the best.”

Something about the way Angela and Sombra had both talked about her injuries made her reluctant to ask for details, but she needed to know.

“How badly was I injured?”

“The nanosurgeons repaired the gross damage,” Angela explained as she sat next to the bed, “but your heart stopped for more than five seconds before I was able to restart it. Once you were resuscitated, we needed get two units of blood into you before we could perform surgery to remove the shrapnel and ensure your intestines and bowels had not been compromised.”

“It seems as if my injuries were quite serious, then.”

Angela made a few notes on her pad, closed it, and her expression softened as she left her professional demeanor behind. “You gave us quite a scare.”

She ducked her head, thinking of Olivia’s reactions last night. “So I have been told.”

“Have you been experiencing any discomfort since you woke up?”

“I have been experiencing headaches,” Satya admitted. “And I am somewhat more sensitive to light than I would be normally.”

The doctor nodded as she made one last note. “Post-concussion symptoms. Not surprising, given the circumstances, but I’ll prescribe some medication to help with them.”

“Was anyone else injured?”

“No, the rest came through unscathed,” Angela assured her. “In no small part thanks to you.”

“I...did not really have time to think about that. I was not really considering anything except trying to prevent the explosion.”

Angela nodded, her eyes full of sympathy. “I’ve often felt the same way when in combat. Sometimes it works out. Others…” She shook her head. “Fortunately you should make a full recovery, though I do recommend you rest and give yourself time to heal.”

Satya gave a soft hum at that piece of advice. “Sombra has suggested I should consider...stepping back.”

“I would certainly recommend a temporary leave while you recover,” Angela agreed.

Satya felt her stomach clench with nervousness. “And if...I decided the leave of should become permanent, instead?”

Angela reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, her eyes full of warmth. “You have a family, Satya. If you feel it would be best to devote more time to them after what has happened, I think that is entirely reasonable.”

She could not keep the fear from her voice. “They will not be...angry?”

“We would _miss_ you - your skills, your input, your help. But that is not the same.” Angela leaned back, and her eyes became distant. “This life demands much of us, and the cost to our personal lives is often quite high. You are not the only one who has struggled with these questions.”

Satya’s eyes widened with realization. “You and Fareeha…”

“Are _both_ aware of how much time and attention a healthy family needs,” Angela said quietly.

The door opened before Satya could respond, and Sombra returned with a paper cup of coffee in her hand. “Oh, hey, doc.”

“Sombra.” Angela nodded to her and stood with a smile.

“Everything looking good?”

“The prognosis is very good,” Angela answered before giving Satya a significant look, “but I do recommend that Satya take a leave of absence to rest and recover.”

She gave the doctor a grateful nod. “I assure you, I intend to follow your recommendations to the letter.”

“Excellent,” Angela beamed. “As long as nothing unexpected comes up, I expect we’ll be able to discharge you in the next day.”

“Thank you,” Satya said as she reached out to take Sombra’s hand.

_It seems I have a great deal to think about._

They spent one more night in Paris after she was discharged from the hospital. Satya had considered throwing herself into the reconstruction of a fully capable prosthetic as soon as the parts arrived, but decided until her concussion symptoms passed it would be better to rely on the basic limb chassis.

There would be time for the rest later.

Walking through the streets of Castillo, she looked at the brightly painted buildings and their classical architecture with a new sense of appreciation as she let Sombra lead her to the panaderia. They had just reached the town plaza when the bakery’s door flew open, and a dark haired blur burst onto the square headed directly for her, with a slightly smaller shadow just behind.

“Mama!”

Satya braced herself for the impact, but still rocked back a bit as Naya embraced her tightly, her arms wrapped around her. “Hello, my heart.”

“Som said you got hurt,” Naya’s voice was muffled by speaking into her chest, but her concern was clear.

“I was hurt,” Satya admitted as she reached down to rub Naya’s back. “But the doctors took very good care of me.”

_Did she grow taller in just a week?_

There was a tug at the hem of her dress, and when she looked down Luna had squeezed around Naya to hug her leg, one hand wrapped in the fabric as she tried to get as close as possible.

“I am doing much better now,” she reassured them as best as she could. “I will still need to rest, so I can finish my recovery, but I will be home with you.”

Naya’s eyes widened. “Does that mean no school?”

“No,” Satya corrected her gently. “You will both still be going to school tomorrow. But for today...we are going home.”

Naya looked a bit disappointed about not getting out of her studies, but there was still relief in her bearing as she stepped back. “OK, mom.”

Luna took that opportunity to gesture to be picked up, and Satya obliged, bending carefully to ensure she did not stress her healing body.

“She was scared,” Naya said as she rocked back and forth on the blades of her legs. “We didn’t know when you were coming home.”

Luna turned to stick out her tongue, but when Naya admitted they _both_ had been worried, she settled for laying her head against Satya’s shoulder again.

Sombra had kept quiet, letting the girls monopolize her, but when Satya met her gaze she raised an eyebrow. _See?_

Satya gave a little nod, acknowledging the point before she answered Naya. “We were not sure either, but the doctors made sure I would be able to come home as quickly as possible.”

Naya considered that, and then nodded. “Can we go home now?”   
  
Satya kissed Luna’s forehead, and reached out to hold Naya’s hand. “I would like that.”

As Angela had promised, the headaches gradually faded, and disappeared entirely within a few weeks, and it did not take long for her body to recover in kind.

Once she knew she could make proper use of it, she worked to reconstruct her arm to her satisfaction with Sombra’s help, and performed a ‘testing routine’ for the hard light systems that just happened to involve a bedtime story.

The next few weeks were full of moments that Satya found herself appreciating more than she might have before her injury.

Luna had been interested in helping in the kitchen, so she taught her how to make rice, and let her watch as she made lamb biryani. A few days later, their youngest surprised them by taking what she had learned to make a quite tasty lunch with rice and sauteed vegetables.

She went to Naya’s football and softball games with Sombra and Luna, and they celebrated Naya’s winning run by going out for paletas after the game.

They had always tried to do things as a family, but something about this...it was different. It had been easy to find a routine, yet still discover something to value and enjoy in each day.

Seeing Luna’s delight when she learned a new word, or her fascination with ingredients in the kitchen. The happiness in Naya’s eyes when they worked on improvements or decorations for her legs, and the satisfaction of helping her with homework.

The way Olivia looked at them when she thought they weren’t looking. The animated conversations that sometimes turned to a three or four way debate between mother and daughters. The quieter moments doing dishes or relaxing after Luna and Naya were in bed.

Moments of life she might have once scoffed at while at Vishkar, or only imagined through the frame of the company’s service. She cherished them now on no one’s terms but her own, and was all the better for it.

It made her decision easier than she’d expected it would be.

She flew to Gibraltar to speak to Winston in person. She did not wish to be unprofessional...and they had become her friends. It would not do to simply leave without the courtesy of saying farewell.

“So,” Winston said as he read the letter she had handwritten for him. “I guess this is goodbye, then?”

Satya smiled. “I would be happy to come and consult for administrative or technical matters, but I think it is time for me to step back from being a combatant.”

Winston nodded, then smiled as he stood from the truck tire he used for a chair, extending his hand. “I’d like that. We’ll miss you, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that we understand your decision.”

Satya shook the offered hand. “I am grateful for everything, Winston. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. Good luck, Satya. You deserve it.”

By the time she returned to the little house she had come to think of as her home, it was well after dark. Olivia was waiting in the living room in a tank top and a pair of sweatpants, a bottle of wine and two glasses next to her on the table.

“Everything go OK?”

“Very much so, yes.” She gestured to the glasses. “Are those for us?”

Her wife nodded as she opened the bottle, and began to pour. “Thought you’d like to celebrate a little.”

Satya smiled as she closed the distance, making sure Olivia had put the bottle down before she wrapped her arms around her and gave her a long, slow kiss. “I think I would.”

Later, with the wine gone and the sheets wrapped loosely around them, Olivia nuzzled the side of her neck, a satisfied purr in her voice.

“So. What do you want to do tomorrow?”

Satya stroked a finger along the implants that lined Olivia’s back, enjoying the happy little sigh it drew from her love. She considered what she might like to do with the time ahead of her. A far different life than anything she’d ever considered might be possible. A family she’d never imagined she could have.

The answer came to her lips with a smile.

“Everything.”


End file.
